Thursday, June 5, 2008

To implement Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan the Union needed to control the Mississippi River. One of the first steps in this plan would be to seize New Orleans. This would help secure the Mississippi River and also remove one of the premier ports in America from Confederate control. In the middle of January 1862 Flag Officer David G. Farragut undertook this operation with his West Gulf Blockading Squadron. The main obstacle was Forts Jackson and St. Philip, above the Head of Passes, approximately seventy miles below New Orleans. Once these were cleared there was nothing to stop the Union navy until it reached New Orleans.

From April 18 to April 28, Farragut bombarded the two forts, before finally running thirteen ships passed the forts on April 24th. Once this was accomplished New Orleans fell to Farragut without any more blood shed.

The Confederacy would make a few efforts to recapture New Orleans but none of them had much chance of succeeding. New Orleans would spend the rest of the war occupied by the Union, most notable by Benjamin Butler who earned at least two wonderful nicknames during his time in New Orleans, "Beast" and "Spoons."

This month Ray Polster will discuss this early battle in the Union's effort to control the Mississippi river and to also strengthen the blockade.

Ray suggests the following books:The Night the War was Lost by Charles L. DufourCapture of New Orleans by Chester G Hearn

We lost money, but not much. After sending out a survey of the membership they overwhelmingly said that they were fine with the roundtable subsidizing the symposium by $104.55. In fact they said we could run a much larger loss, we had nearly as many people who said we could be $1000 in the red as said $500 in the red. We don't intend to ever be that far off budget estimates but it was a nice vote of confidence to receive.

About Us

The Rocky Mountain Civil War Round Table is a Denver-area group of Civil War enthusiasts. We meet on the second Thursday of the month to discuss the war. For more information please check out our past newsletters or email us at RockyMtnCWRT@aol.com.

Meeting Location Map

Study Group Meetings

Due to the upcoming symposium it was decided to do a short battle study this summer and then next spring begin our next longer battle study. And instead of the Civil War we will study a battle that is much closer to home, the Battle of Little Big Horn. Email us here or contact Mike Lang for more information. There will likely be 2 or 3 meetings before the trip. The trip will likely be in August or September.